Tottenham’s owners are planning to rip up the club’s rigid wage structure before a major overhaul of the squad this summer if the team avoid relegation.
There is an acknowledgment at Spurs that the club have underinvested in player salaries for years, which along with an injury crisis has led to their being 16th in the Premier League, four points off the bottom three.
Tottenham’s wage bill is lowest of the so-called “big six” clubs. It was £222m in the most recently published accounts for 2023-24, little more than half that of Manchester City’s £413m over the same period, although it has increased because of signings such as Xavi Simons, Mohammed Kudus and Conor Gallagher.
The £35m signing of Gallagher from Atlético Madrid on wages of about £200,000 a week is regarded as a significant turning point inside the club. The midfielder is their highest-paid player and more big signings are expected after the end of the season assuming Tottenham stay in the Premier League.
Under the leadership of the former executive chair Daniel Levy, who was forced out last September by the Lewis Family Trust that owns the club, Tottenham made a virtue of parsimony regarding player wages and transfer fees, but there is a growing feeling that a correction is overdue.
Economies had to be made to pay back loans taken out to build the club’s £1bn stadium but the 2023-24 wage spend was 42% of revenue, very low by Premier League standards.
A source close to the owners said the Lewis family recognised greater investment in salaries was needed because finishing positions in the league correlate more closely to wages than to transfer spending.
Tottenham’s chief executive, Vinai Venkatesham, hinted last month that the club was ready to loosen the purse strings, a position reinforced by the struggles this season.
Igor Tudor has been appointed as the head coach until the end of the season. Mauricio Pochettino is the favourite to succeed him in the summer, more than six years after his sacking by Levy, with the former Brighton and Marseille manager Roberto De Zerbi another contender.
